Okubo Chaya Restaurant in Mt. Asuwa, Fukui, Japan -Enjoy the View of the City and Great Foods-

In Mt. Asuwa, there are great restaurants, a cool café, shrines which are known as famous sacred places, observatories and a zoo.

 

“Okubo chaya” is one of the great restaurants in Mt. Asuwa in which you can enjoy the scenery of Fukui City during both day and night.

They serve delicious Japanese sake as well.

If you have a chance to go to Mt. Asuwa, how about having great foods and drinks at “Okubo chaya”?

 

T.F

Full of People Around Fukui Station Areas

The other day (April 23rd, 2017), the center of Fukui City was full of people.

Fukui Commercial High School’s cheerleader club, "JETS" performed at the department store, "Fukui Seibu" located in the shopping area of the west side of Fukui station. The rooftop of "Fukui Seibu" which is usually opened for the rooftop beer garden during summer time was full of people for their performance. Right before the doors opened, there was the long line of people waiting and it was snaking from the 8th floor to the 1st floor. It was even snaking its way to the outside of the building.

On Higashi-odori street which is in front of the eastside of Fukui station, there was a Disney parade in Fukui for the first time. According to Fukui Newspaper, there were about 80,000 people for the parade. The population of Fukui City is about 265,000 which means that one third of the population of the City came out for the parade.

I felt the power of intriguing content. I realized that the importance of showing interesting things which can catch many people’s attention such as performance of the cheerleader club, “JETS” and Disney parade.
T.S

Spiritual Trip to Miyako Island, Okinawa #1

I went to Miyako Island from Apr. 13th to 16th. It was my third time to go to the island, so when I arrived at the Miyako Airport, I felt relieved like “I’m back”.

The temperature was about 24 degrees there. Even so, an islander said that it was cool for this time of year and it was abnormal weather. In Fukui, just before the day I left, the temperature went fairly up, so I thought that I wouldn’t feel the difference that much in Miyako, but it was surely in subtropical zone and has moderate humidity, so the sensory temperature was much higher.

By the way, while I was planning the trip, it was getting kind of spiritual one. Because with more research, I found out it is said Miyako Island itself has a strong energy and Ogami Island, where I also wanted to go, it is truly called an island of God. So I decided to look around spiritual spots in Miyako Island.

Next morning, I headed off to Ogami Island. It takes 15 minutes by a fast ship from Shimajiri fishing port. As I was watching the beautiful sea called Miyako Blue, the island is almost upon us. At the port, a man of the tourist association that I asked for a guide in advance was waiting for us.

He guides five persons including myself. The island’s outer perimeter is about 2.7 km. At low tide, you can walk around the island along the beach. In the island, there are some sanctuaries and sacred spaces where it is said that gods descended. Also, the sea is very clear enough to see tiny blue tropical fish from the water’s edge. So many people come to the island to swim.

Ogami Island’s population is 26 people now. There are no children. An elderly female called Tsukasa handles religious services. But what would have happened to the religious services in the near future?

That day, I also visited Harimizu Utaki, where is the oldest hallow ground in Miyako Island and the Miyako Shrine, which is the southernmost one of Japan. (H.S)

 
Yuri, ten years old, the only dog in Ogami Island. She is very clever and shows us the island with the guide. For your information, the number of cats are more than people and I met some that day.

 The lovely view from the observatory of Ogami Island. The blak part in the sea is a farm of nemacystus decipiens. In July, when the farming finishes, the sea will be deep blue completely.

The stairs to the observatory. The guide told us about mulberries screw pines grow wild and we tasted them. They were sweet and good.
 We head to the seaside from the observatory. Of course, Yuri was with us!
 
 The center part of the breakwater. Because Tsukasa complained that the passage was blocked. So they scraped off the part. Tsukasa has a say even in public
project!
 
Harimizu Utaki. Acutally, three women were worshipping inside.
 
 Cats relax on the stone wall in front of the utaki.
 
I received a stamp at the Miyako Shrine.

At the evening, I went to an Okinawan restaurant which has a folk song live show. The song is BEGIN’s “My grand father takes pride in Orion Beer” The rylics are laid-back but meaningful.

Amazing Flamenco Dancers Part 3/ ARTE Y SOLERA Dance Company/Origin of Flamenco

At the beginning of January this year, I went to see a play “the mermaid’s red candles” written by Mimei Ogawa performed by Mayumi Kagita and Hiroki Sato’s ARTE Y SOLERA dance company and a flamenco dance show performed by them at Sabae City Cultural Center.

 

After the play, their flamenco show was started.

The dancers danced powerfully with the music which was passionate with a little bit of bitter sweetness.

Source: The photographs of previous performance of Arte Y Solera from Arte Y Solera’s official website ( “Ai koso subete ” in Japanese title, “iAMOR, AMOR, AMOR in Spanish title” performed at Setagaya Public Theatre on September 3rd and 4th in 2011)

http://www.arte-y-solera.com/performance/2011_05.shtml#../images/2011_05_02.jpg

 

Source: The photographs of previous performance of Arte Y Solera from Arte Y Solera’s official website ( “Arte Y Solera Kanki”, TEATRO VILLAMARTA・TEATRO JUAN BERNABE DE LEBRIJA performed on November 6th and 12th, 2005 in Spain)

http://www.arte-y-solera.com/performance/2005_final.shtml#../images/2005_final_10.jpg

 

Hiroki Sato explained about the history of Flamenco. It started about 200 years ago in Andalucía in Spain by Gypsies (Roma). Andalucía used to be a wasteland and the residents, especially Gypsies lived in poverty. Gypsies were the nomadic people who came from India to the west.

Source: The photographs of previous performance of Arte Y Solera from Arte Y Solera’s official website ( “Chikai” performed on August 2nd and 3rd at Le Theatre Ginza)

http://www.arte-y-solera.com/performance/2008_05.shtml#../images/2008_05_09.jpg

 

The Gypsies expressed their anger, sorrow and pain by singing and dancing, and this was the beginning of Flamenco. They released their negative feelings with Flamenco so that they could keep on moving on. Therefore, Flamenco is not a happy thing like a festival. It has bitter sweetness with strength to live. It is like the cry from the deep inside them.

 

The dancers I saw that day on the stage performed using their whole bodies strongly. They were expressing their strength, anger, sorrow and everything in between from the deep inside them. In the audience, there was a group of Spanish speaking people. They shouted something in Spanish which probably meant great! or something to praise them for the great performance because the dancers on the stage shouted back to them, “gracias! “.

 

Overall, everyone including the audience, dancers, singers and musicians had such great time. At the end of the show, the audience kept clapping their hands for an encore and it would not stop. Because everyone was so excited that the show could not be finished and time for the encore was extended. In the encore, the musicians who stayed behind the dancers during the show started coming out and dancing on the stage.

 

This is not the video from the show I went to see but I would like to introduce how great the dance group, "Arte Y Solera" is. So I would like to share a video of "ARTEY SOLERA".

Please enjoy not only the beauty of Flamenco but also the strength that the dancers and musicians express.

 

T.F

 

Official Website of ARTE Y SORERA

http://www.arte-y-solera.com/

 

Enjoy our previous blogs as well!

Amazing Flamenco Dancers Part1 / ARTE Y SOLERA Dance Company/ Founder,Hiroki Sato

http://www.genjapan.com/en/blog/content/1561

 

Amazing Flamenco Dancers Part2 / ARTE Y SOLERA Dance Company / Founder, Mayumi Kagita

http://www.genjapan.com/en/blog/content/1573

 

Pheasants and Japanese Bush Warblers Singing Together at the Foot of Mt. Aoba in Takahama-cho, Fukui Prefecture on April 16th, 2017

Last Sunday, April 16th, 2017, I went hiking in Mt. Aoba in Takahama-cho. When looking at the mountain from Obama City, it looks sharp like a pyramid and it’s beautiful. It is 693 meters above sea level. Not only I enjoyed hiking, but I also enjoyed the bird sounds of pheasants and Japanese bush warblers which I heard as I was walking in Satoyama (farming landscape near the hills in Japan) at the foot of the mountain after the descending the mountain.

 

There was such a fine male pheasant chirping right near a farmer.

 

There was a monkey in the forest by the road.

T.S

Akutagawa Prize winning novel “Convenience Store Woman” by Sayaka Murata

I am curious how she lives her life. Because she has been working part-time at a same convenience store for 18 years after graduating from university.
There is no clerk left who got training with her initially.
The store manager is the eighth.

I’m sure the main character Keiko comes to the convenience store today and eats breakfast that she bought at the store in its backroom and after a morning meeting, she greets their customers with high energy.
“Good morning!”
She says that she likes this moment. Because she feels like a time of “morning” is bringing into herself. The author herself is the model for Keiko. Even after winning the Akutagawa Prize, she works at the convenience store.

― While working at a convenience store, I am often looked down. But I rather liked watching their faces whose looked down on me. Because I had a feeling that they were truly humans. ―
As I read the part, I was shocked. She likes watching such people’s faces? What kind of person is she? Also, she says that she has very little feeling of anger.
In the story as well, she doesn’t criticize others. On the other hand, she doesn’t flatter anyone.

― A new convenience store that is supposed to open soon looks like a transparent aquarium on the first floor of an office building. ― There are many impressive expressions and I like the best this figurative one that I can see the scene instantly.

Keiko may not be a normal person, indeed. But is normal such a great thing?
I think that it’s about time people should be released from normal.
When Keiko thinks that she exists for the convenience store, she thinks that she is a significant creature. So, anyway, I feel happy there is a place for her called convenience store.

According to my friend who used to teach Japanese to foreigners, an American student said, “Japanese convenience store are like the land of dreams. They sell everything, you can draw money and send a package by courier service. And, you can buy tickets for the real land of dreams Tokyo Disneyland! But in America, convenient stores are usually next to gas stations, dirty, dim and very dangerous.”

I wish Japanese convenience stores and the people work there a happy future!
(H.S)

 

Amazing Flamenco Dancers Part-2 / ARTE Y SOLERA Dance Company / Founder, Mayumi Kagita

After the founders of ARTE Y SOLERA Dance Company, Hiroki Sato introduced the story “the mermaid’s red candles” written by Mimei Ogawa, (I’m not telling you the story because I don’t want to spoil it. The story is very interesting so I’m sure you will enjoy it.) the play was started.

 

As soon as the play was started, Mayumi Kgaita, the founder of ARTE Y SOLERA Dance Company appeared on the stage. The way she moved and used her timing were so amazing that I could not take my eyes off from her.

 

On the stage, she looked powerful, cute, beautiful and stunning. Every time she was on the stage, she created the atmosphere which kept audience attention strongly.

 

I was mesmerized by her beautiful dancer’s body which was perfectly balanced. When I saw her from behind wearing a wide-open back dress was breathtakingly beautiful.

Source: The photographs of previous performance of Arte Y Solera from Arte Y Solera’s official website ( “Arte Y Solera Kanki”, TEATRO VILLAMARTA・TEATRO JUAN BERNABE DE LEBRIJA performed on November 6th and 12th, 2005 in Spain)

http://www.arte-y-solera.com/performance/2005_final.shtml#../images/2005_final_05.jpg

 

Source: The photographs of previous performance of Arte Y Solera from Arte Y Solera’s official website ( “Arte Y Solera Kanki”, TEATRO VILLAMARTA・TEATRO JUAN BERNABE DE LEBRIJA performed on November 6th and 12th, 2005 in Spain)

http://arte-y-solera.com/performance/2005_final.shtml#../images/2005_final_02.jpg

 

*During their performance, photographs were prohibited so the photographs above are taken at their different performance.

 

Mrs. Kagita started dancing modern dance when she was 6 years old and she started dancing Flamenco when she was in the dance course of Japan Women’s College of Physical Education. She even went to Spain and danced Flamenco. As you can see, she’s been dancing for a long time.

 

During the play, “the mermaid’s red candles”, the dancers did not speak, sing or say anything. They expressed the joy, sorrow, sadness, loneliness and pain with their whole body without words. Everyone was amazing but especially I personally liked Mrs. Kagita’s move. The way she danced was very powerful but smooth that she used the femininity fully.

 

Source: The photographs of previous performance of Arte Y Solera from Arte Y Solera’s official website (“The tour of FLAMENCO Sonezaki-Shinju in 2008”, performed at Yokosuka Arts Theatre on November 15th, 2008 )

http://www.arte-y-solera.com/performance/2008_final.shtml#../images/2008_final_08.jpg

If you have a chance to see Mayumi Kagita’s dance in live, go see it! I’m sure you will enjoy it.

 

I would like to share a video of “flamencosonezaki”. Please enjoy the harmony of Japanese culture and flamenco.

T.F

Official Website of ARTE Y SORERA Compania de Mayumi Kagita y Hiroki Sato

http://www.arte-y-solera.com/

The spring wild flowers found in the vineyard of Hakusan Winery

As the snow in the vineyard of Hakusan winery has melted away completely, they have started working for this year. Around the vineyard, there are spring wild grasses growing lively.

 

Many horsetails which remind people of spring have come out one after another on the bank on the edge of the vineyard. The mountain in the photograph behind the bank is Kyoga-dake (1,625meters high).

 

They begin the work by putting wires around the poles and putting the grape branch around those wires. The mountain in the photograph is Arashima-dake (1,523 meters high) which is one of the one hundred famous mountains of Japan.

 

The pink flowers of Lamium purpureum (deadnettle) and the blue flowers of Veronica persica (birdeye speedwell) stand out between burgundy leaves which look like five-story pagoda.

T.S

Recommendation of cake roll in Fukui City “Fruit shop Umeda”

Speaking of delicious cake roll in Fukui, it is definitely Umeda’s fruit cake roll. Umeda is a long-established fruit shop founded over eighty years ago, which is not too much to say that everybody in Fukui knows the shop. They have been keeping their business in the same place near Fukui Station. Even other shops had changed, Umeda had always been there. Usually, although I pass in front of the shop without thinking, I feel a sense of peace that it is always there. So I just hope the shop will never disappear, as a resident of Fukui Prefecture.

Of course, I like it very much and sometimes buy it. When I receive it at the shop, it is heavy and I feel happy. The cake roll’s dough is moist and fine, and it uses mildly sweet cream with a lot of fresh fruit. The cross section surface of the cake roll is beautiful.

Their website includes the words of the owner as follows and I was moved to read it. “We have changed for happiness of our customers through fruits”

The second floor is their parlor and you can eat the cake roll there. When you come to Fukui, please drop in. The main shop is located next to Seibu Department Store’s Fukui Store. (H.S)


 Fruit cake roll (16cm - 1600 yen w/tax)
 They also have chocolate dough one.

Amazing Flamenco Dancers Part 1/ARTE Y SOLERA Dance Company / Founder, Hiroki Sato

Source: Blog of a flamenco group “Alegria” on January 22nd, 2017

http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/alegria_since2005/40769925.html

 

In January this year, I saw a play “the mermaid’s red candles” written by Mimei Ogawa performed by Mayumi Kagita and Hiroki Sato’s ARTE Y SOLERA dance company and a flamenco dance show performed by them at Sabae City Cultural Center.

Source: Profile picture of the official twitter of “Arte Y Solera”

https://twitter.com/ARTE_Y_SOLERA

 

The founders of ARTE Y SOLERA Dance Company, Mayumi Kagita and Hiroki Sato have been awarded the Agency for Cultural Affairs Art Festival (Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs) in 2004, they have been chosen ones of 100 Japanese People the World Respects (Newsweek Article) in 2006, and they have also been highly praised by many dance and theatre related companies and organizations all over the world, especially in Japan and Spain. They usually perform in Japan and Spain.

 

It was my first time to see Flamenco dance show live, so I was so excited. As soon as I arrived at the venue, I saw many people waiting in a long line. The long line was snaking its way to the outside of the venue.

 

Finally, the door was opened and everyone rushed into the theatre to get the seats. Luckily, I got to sit in the second row with my friends.

 

Before the play was started, the dancer Hiroki Sato introduced the story “the mermaid’s red candles”. As soon as Mr. Sato appeared on the stage, a hush fell over the audience. And everyone became completely absorbed in watching him.

 

Mr. Sato is a tall and handsome man with the “dancer’s body” which is long, lean and strong that must have been built by many years of hard training. His posture is straight so he stood straight and it was beautiful. Although he seems a quiet person but there is something powerful about him that attracts attention. I also noticed that he has both a beautiful external appearance and inner beauty. Not only how he looks but also the way he walks, dances and talks to the audience with caring, humor and great smile were beautiful.

Source: The photographs of previous performance of Arte Y Solera from Arte Y Solera’s official website ( “Chikai” performed on August 2nd and 3rd at Le Theatre Ginza)

http://www.arte-y-solera.com/performance/2008_05.shtml#../images/2008_05_11.jpg

 

Of course, his dance is amazing as well! He expresses the story of the play and/or music with every part of his body so the audience we could tell what was happening even if there was no music and/or sound.

 

If you have a chance, please go see his dance in live. I’m sure that you’d have a great time!

 

I would like to share a video of “ARTEYSOLERA”, “ARETE Y SOLERA densnudo vol.12”.

Stay tuned for ARTE Y SOLERA Dance Company / Founders, Mayumi Kagita and Hiroki Sato Part-2

 

T.F

ARTE Y SORERA Compania de Mayumi Kagita y Hiroki Sato

A New Comer is Miss Window’s Peak

Last autumn, a new kitten has joined my mother’s family. When my mother went to a springwater site at the foot of a hill where she often visited to collect water, the kitten was hobbling. It looked tiny, thin and so weak. The place was remote,
so probably someone threw it away. My mother already had two cats, but she couldn’t ignore and brought it home.

After then, she took it to a nearby animal hospital for examination and it got treatment for injuries and illness. It is female and its color is black and white but mostly white, so my mother named it Shiro(white). And her forehead is so-called “window’s peak”. She recovered completely at the end of last year and she was spayed, so I was relieved.

By the way, I was worried about compatibility between Shiro and the two cats have lived already. I have heard that in case of house cats, a new comer became stronger than old ones. More or less, it seems to be true because actually Shiro was jumping and moving vigorously but the old cats looked uncomfortable and they wanted to go out soon.

But now finally, they are getting used to each other. Also, Shiro has been growing and has become tame. I hope that they would get on well forever. (H.S)

 
 Recent Shiro. She was fully grown. She is friendly and clever.

The wine made from one of the Top 10 Healthy Foods in the World ― The spring of Hakusan Winery ―

The vineyard of Hakusan Winery (the photograph was taken on March 29th, 2017)


When I think about wine, I think about the foreign-grown grapes for making wine such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Noir and so on. At Hakusan Winery which is the one and only winey in Fukui Prefecture, they make wine from the indigenous Japanese wild grapes.


The wild grapes are healthy food that it has been chosen as one of the top 10 healthy foods in the world on TIME. The wild grapes have 10 times more of the amount of polyphenols in regular grapes.


The Mt. Haku-san which we see from Fukui City still has snow, and it looks white and bright. As the snow has been melted at vinery of Hakusan Winery which is located at the bottom of a part of Hakusan National Park, Mt. Kyoga-take, people start taking care of the vineyard and making wine for this year.



The mountains of Okuetsu (eastern Fukui) region can be seen on the way to Hakusan Winery.
 

It’s Mt. Arashima-dake (chosen as one of the famous 100 mountains in Japan) at right in the photograph.

T.S

Winter Scenery in Fukui, Japan #3 / Snow Scenery from Train

There have been many days that we can see the sun, the snow has been cleared in almost every parts of Japan and it has been getting warmer. I would like to look back the winter which has just passed.

 

We had so much snow in Fukui Prefecture from February 10th, 2017 for a few days.

In Fukui, we don’t usually have much snow in February. And if even it does snow, we would not expect so much snow to be piled up. People in Fukui, all of us were taken by surprise with so much snow piled up in such a short time in February.

The areas where snow-removing vehicles did not go into to clear the snow, it was piled up to the knees.

 

Seeing the snow sceneries from the trains of the Echizen Railway in Fukui are always beautiful. Taking the Ktsuyama Eiheiji Line from Fukui station, as the train gets closer to Ktsuyama City, you start seeing snow more and more.

 

On February 11th, 2017, many public transportation services were delayed or cancelled but the Echizen Railway was fine. I like taking trains of Echizen Railway because of it. They hardly delay or cancel.

 

 

T.F